The Great Escape

A busy mum takes some time to herself in this charming short story by Eirin Thompson.

no filling in his sandwiches and I found myself pouring Cheerios instead of dog biscuits into Doc’s bowl.

Taking Doc for his twice-daily walks had become harder, too. No longer could one of us pop out with him for a quick stroll, possibly with a child in tow.

Now, I had to get all the kids into their coats and outdoor shoes before breakfast, and again after tea, as I couldn’t leave them in the house without supervision.

Mum visited as often as she could, but she lived over 50 miles away, and had to get two buses, so it wasn’t frequent.

“Let me pay for your ironing to be done at least,” she said on the phone. “That’s the sort of thing I’d be doing for you if we lived nearer.”

I wasn’t too proud to accept.

Even though Olly had moved out, it came as a shock when I discovered he had consulted a solicitor.

“I’d thought we could just sort things out between ourselves,” I told Lisa. “I don’t want to fight with him, so why does he need a lawyer?”

“It’s horrible, I know,”

Lisa said, “but if he’s using a solicitor, you need to get yourself one, too. It’s great that things are civilised between you, and you want to keep it that way for the kids’ sake, but you have to protect yourself legally.” I knew she was right.

Olly had gone to the guy we’d used for the conveyancing for our house, so the next time Mum was due to visit, I made an appointment with another firm in town.

I was assigned to Catherine Crabtree, who looked a lot like Velma